Alan Menken has composed the scores for Beauty and the Best, The Little Mermaid, Hercules, Tangled, Enchanted, Hunchback of Notre Dame, Pochantas, Aladdin and The Newsies. He has also done scores for other lesser known Disney movies such as Home on the Range.
He is also the composer for the additional songs found in the live musical versions of Aladdin, Beauty and the Beast, The Little Mermaid, and The Newsies. In addition he composed the score for Little Shop of Horrors.
It surprises me how very few people actually know his name.This guy has the most Oscars of any living person, but a majority of people will go "Alan Menken who?"
Alan Menken has got to one of my favorite composers. He's right up there with Bach. I know he's no where near the utter musical genius Bach is, but who is? His songs are memorable, fun, and moving and are in a variety of styles. You got the touching, moving and/or sad songs like Santa Fe, God Help the Outcasts, Home and Part of Your World, The Inspirational, feel good songs (though you've got to question the validity of the logic/theories of the lyrics sometimes) like Go the Distance, A Whole New World, I See the Light, Someday, and Seize the Day, and then the totally fun ones like Under the Sea, I Won't Say I'm in Love. Friend Like Me, That's How You Know, and Be Our Guest.
He most often collabrated with the (late) Howard Ashman, Tim Rice, and Stephen Schwartz.
It's time this guy gets the attention he deserves. Now go pop in a Disney movie and belt out some Disney tunes in appreciation for this truly amazing composer. If you don't have time for a movie, why not sing along with one of these?
I had no idea that the same guy had composed so many songs from so many different movies. Especially ones i loved to watch growing up. I agree with the fact that probably not many people have heard of his name and chances are, that he probably did so much of the music that shaped their childhood.
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